Hell Hath No Fury
by Lexie Jayne
Summary: Sequel to 'Issues' Jondy takes the matter of rescuing Zack and Max into her own reckless hands and resolves things with Zack.


I own Maya, Dem and Marcus and the characterization of Jondy. This is alternate 'Designate This' – happens about two weeks after AJBAC.  
  
I'm sorry if any medical science is wrong – I'm only 14! My sister pointed out that I didn't add much on Jondy's injuries. There was a guy a few years ago who survived a bullet wound to the skull and lives today. This is based on the fact that Jondy, being DNA engineered, would be able to cope with normally fatal injuries.  
  
Feedback helps my current state of mental health (  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hey, I told you I had issues! So, I've been hiding out in the woods outside Manticore for a couple of days. I've seen the X7s that guard the perimeter – it must be horrible to have no mind, no way to think for your self or any personality. I twist my black hair into a bun and begin sorting out weapons – Zack would've murdered me if he knew how many weapons I actually hand signed in my name.  
  
Pushing the safety switch off, I leapt the fence clutching my gun and some pepper spray. You'd be surprised how effective it was on the X7s. I wish I could get that scene on video.  
  
I sprinted through the woods, surprised at how well I remembered the area – we were designed not to really remember the past. I've never run so fast in my life – the X7s were leaving me alone. From what Syl and Krit said, I'd guess the X7s work as one unit – get one with pepper spray and voila! All are incampacitated. That's a word I made up – it annoys the hell out of Zack because he liked us to use 'technical' terms.  
  
Bastard.  
  
Moving on in life. Manticore is every bit as grim as it was when I was here … ten years ago. I notice something silver from the corner of my eyes and telescope my eyes – graves with barcodes on them…hundreds. How morbid.  
  
I can run as fast as the boys,  
  
I can sing and dance ballet  
  
I can show you all of my toys  
  
though I'd rather be alone today  
  
It's not that I don't like to hang around with you  
  
And though you're fun, I'm on the run, so much to do  
  
Gotta make the dreams I have come true  
  
'Cause life is what you make it and to waste it just won't do.  
  
Okay, so if you were a crazy, psycho bitch who insists on creating killing machines, what would you do with two of the most genetically superior rogue 'guinea pigs'?  
  
The labs. Exactly what I was thinking.  
  
I walked through the halls normally, knowing that one wrong move and I would meet up with all the X5s I left behind. I wonder if they still have crew cuts.  
  
Focus. Focus on the problem at hand, Jondy. I walk down the hall and see the doors to the labs wide open.  
  
You have to be joking. The security here is a joke. I march through the doors, acting for all the world if I actually belong here.  
  
A blonde bitch is yelling behind a screen. "…Get your act together, 559, you're here for good and you'll never be CO again." Poor Zack that'd would hurt. Wait, Zack was a bastard. He's here from his own stupidity.  
  
"…Stop sniffing, 452 (Max crying?) There isn't anyone left to save you, is there? While Syl and Krit and Zane all love you to * pieces *…" (I thought I was the only open who could be that openly sarcastic and nasty at once.) "…They don't care enough to rescue you. Do they?"  
  
"They know they'd compromise themselves!" Zack yells.  
  
"Max's got her civilian friends, Zack, but who do you have that'll be at your side in a second?"  
  
There's a silence. It's times like these that I wish I had a mind reading talent.  
  
"…Jondy," Zack said pathetically, extremely quietly.  
  
The blonde bitch howled with laughter. "I doubt it, 559. Why would 210 even care? You spilled the whole story up psycho actives a few days ago. I'm surprised an X5 female left you with all your body parts after pulling something like that. " Actually, so am I.  
  
"778!" BB (Blonde Bitch) yells. Please god; make sure I look like this 778. Please god make sure 778 is female with long hair. Please god let 778 have hair.  
  
I step in, at attention. "Ma'am," I ask in a carefully tuned soldiers voice.  
  
"You will spend the rest of the day chatting to X5-559 and X5-452. You have reviewed their history, 778?"  
  
"Ma'am, yes ma'am," I shouted, hoping to god that Zack didn't even look at me strangely.  
  
I have a lot riding on god, especially for an X5.  
  
"Good. I shall return at 2100, 778." BB swept out of the room and bot Max and Zack gazed at me, mutinous.  
  
I glared at them back. "There's no one else in the Labs at the moment," I said, glaring viciously at Zack.  
  
"…Jondy," Zack said faintly, standing up. "I-I…"  
  
"Save it," I snap, pulling off a bulletproof vest and pulling a second out of my bag. Guns and pepper spray. "The spray is extremely efficient on X7s."  
  
"They have no eyelashes," Max replied. "Keeps them unprotected."  
  
"And when one is hurt…" Zack laughed, tugging the vest on, Max did the same.  
  
We marched out of the Labs. "The security stinks," I sighed. Just as we walked into BB and a group of X9s. Shit.  
  
"778?" she said, scandalized at the disobeyed orders.  
  
I smirked at her, hand on hip. "Try, 210. You know, Jondy?"  
  
She gasped. I know, my god she's a drama queen. "Attack X9 – any means possible."  
  
I left a round of bullets off; watching several X9s tumbled to the floor. Then I saw, BB leaning over Zack, holding a taser in her hand, as he jerked on the ground.  
  
I leapt towards her and slammed her into a wall. I held my gun to her chin. "Never. Ever. Touch. My. Boyfriend," I snarled.  
  
She looked at me in amazement. "You are…do you have any self-esteem?" she laughed nastily. "Your so called boyfriend was more interested in wooing your sister than spending time with you. In fact, he didn't even let you come and attack the base the first time! You are the most pathetic X5 ever created!"  
  
I looked at her and punched her in the stomach. "My life goal is complete – being the most pathetic X5 means I am human. But you! You are a pathetic human being," I drove my knee into her solar plexus. "I'll deal with my boyfriend next time he…thank you very much."  
  
Just as I said that, a pullet pierced my stomach. Stupid shoddy craftsmanship of those vests.  
  
Max, Zack and I exchanged looks. And we ran.  
  
Don't fall, don't fall, was all I can think.  
  
Outside. The cold air stung my bullet wound, as I felt the sticky blood warmish on my skin. My hair was flying everywhere, and I had to slow up, the wound was stopping me from running very fast.  
  
"Zack!" I gasped, doubling over in pain. He double backed and wrapped his arm around my waist and half dragged me up the hill.  
  
"C'mon Jondy, just get past the X7s and we'll be home free," he murmured in my ear.  
  
"I-I can't," I collapsed in his arms. The bullet must have hit a main artery or something. I feel all foggy, like this is a dream or something.  
  
So this is how it ends – me dying in Zack's arms trying to save them from themselves – no one bothered to save me.  
  
"It's not too bad, Dee," Max cooed soothingly. "Just run."  
  
I managed to run, barely, but those bloody X7s. One jumped out at us and fired her gun. I leapt in front of Max – if two of us went down, the whole objective would go down the proverbial toilet.  
  
I didn't feel it hit me, I almost thought the X7 misjudged the distance, till I saw Zack and Max's faces. And something sticky and warm was running all over my face.  
  
"Is she dead?" Max cried, I could see her tears. She seemed so far away. I sat up, my head pounding.  
  
"Oh shit," Zack gaped at me.  
  
"What?" I said, realizing the X7 was now a dead body.  
  
"You just had a bullet put through your skull," Max said, looking slightly ill. I realized the warm, sticky substance was my own blood.  
  
"C'mon, we're almost there," Zack motioned to the perimeter fence. Maybe 100 meters away. I was yanked to my feet. I had to survive this. My objective: to kick Zack's ass… won't work if I'm dead.  
  
"Breathe, Dee, and it'll be okay," Max said, brandishing my gun with renewed vigor. And Max hates guns.  
  
I breathed and felt my vision clear up. The fence…20…10…we're there. Zack shoves me towards Max and scales the fence in one bound.  
  
"Jump for that branch, Dee," she says. I leap and swing over the fence. The ground rushes up to meet me…and all of a sudden, Zack's leaning over me.  
  
"We need to go, where's the vehicle?"  
  
"About three hundred meters straight-ahead," I said, leaning heavily on Zack. If my head was as bad as it looked, according to Zack and Max, why am I still up talking and…sorta walking?  
  
I saw the car and straightened up. Might as well have it out with Zack before we left.  
  
"How could you?" I snarled. "Go and raid Manticore without more back up. You know I would've helped. If you hadn't been so pigheaded, I wouldn't have a bloody gaping hole in my head! You could be dead now! I could've helped!"  
  
Zack touched my cheek. "I'm sorry…but why did you bother if you thought we were dead? Why did you care?"  
  
"So I could tell you what a ******* bastard you are," I retorted, almost enjoying the crest fallen, hurt look spread across his gorgeous features.  
  
Suddenly, everything left me – all my energy and adeneline and I sank to the ground, the pain in my head finally making it known.  
  
Zack's arms went around me and I felt like I was floating…  
  
"Does she need a new heart? 'Cause I'm all out," I heard Zack say, dryly.  
  
"You took First Aid 101, Zack, the heart is in the chest, the bullet got Jondy in the chest and in the skull," I heard Max retort. "There has to be a first aid kit in the car."  
  
Zack nodded and I heard him jog off. But the keys were in my pocket…  
  
"Breathe, Jondy, and talk to me," Max ordered. "Where have you been living?"  
  
"Everywhere."  
  
"Dating?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Job?"  
  
"Heaps."  
  
"Pets?"  
  
"I have no life. I am an X5. I am not capable of any emotions except hate. I need to conquer the objective and fight for my country," I said in a blur of words that I couldn't control.  
  
"Zack!" I felt someone slide something over my face. Max was crying hard.  
  
"Breathe deeply, Jondy." It was an oxygen mask and I could taste some thing bitter – Vivisys, a power substance to keep trauma patients with extensive injuries awake and kill the pain. It was incredibly strong and tasted bitter until you went completely numb.  
  
Zack picked me up and carried me to the car, resting the oxygen pump on my legs. He lay me in the back seat on top of a blanket.  
  
"Max will sit in the back with you," he said, as Max slid into a seat and my legs went into her lap. "We're headed back to Seattle – we'll buy food soon."  
  
They hadn't bothered to change from the white hospital scrubs yet. They didn't know it but the bag used as my pillow was full of their clothes and money.  
  
I don't remember the trip, but it must've taken a few days. I remember having a seizure at night sometime and Zack having to transfuse some blood into me. I remember Max trying to get me to drink and eat.  
  
I remember the noise that came up when Max walked in, followed by Zack carrying me, then silence and someone crying hard.  
  
I woke up suddenly, feeling like death. But the bed I was in was the softest I'd ever known I seem to sink into it. A huge fluffy doona was pulled up and around me and I was surrounded by pillows. A tube attacked to my right wrist was transfusing blood from a bag above the bed and my left wrist had a drip attached to it.  
  
I closed my eyes, still feeling foggy and dozed for awhile. Until the door opened and a group of people walked in.  
  
A black man took my pulse and I think read the vital signs on the drip. "Both the blood and the drip can come out – I honestly thought 250mg of MediViv would have brought her back to the land of the living."  
  
MediViv – works like a caffeine overload. 250mg is 5 times the recommended dosage.  
  
"Try Vivisys again," the man murmured, giving me an injection. Then her pulled out the tubing and bound my wrists.  
  
I felt someone curl up on my legs. "She will wake up?" It was Syl.  
  
"Unlikely now – she's been unconscious for al most two weeks, Syl. The amount of strong medication I've pumped into her might have overdosed."  
  
So * that * is where my headache came from.  
  
"I should've told her in the beginning," I heard Zack and touched my cheek.  
  
"She made it pretty clear in the forest she never wanted to see you again, Zack," Max sounded snappy.  
  
"C'mon Boo, bring your sibs," said Original Cindy (I met her when Krit first told me of Zack and Max's deaths.) "You come with me and we'll go to the Sector Nine shopping district and get you all some stuff."  
  
From the sound of it, Logan had given OC his charge cards and sent them off so they weren't moping around here.  
  
I heard Syl start to cry and she hugged me. "Don't die, baby sister," she whispered. "No of us could stand it."  
  
Tinga's absence has made no difference to our group dynamic, I have noticed. No mothering person now. We just hold on to each other tighter.  
  
I doze until I hear them all leave and wake up. The Vivisys has made me kind of sleepy (reverse bloody effect) and my knees feel all wobbly. I climb out of bed and wash my face. My hair is all neatly brushed and tidy. I don't actually look like I've spent two weeks in bed.  
  
I stumbled out into the apartment, in the harsh light of day. Logan and the black doctor dude are sitting at the kitchen bench, drinking coffee. And both stare at me.  
  
"Jondy," Logan said his eyes wide. "You're up."  
  
"And alive," I reply sheepishly. "Doesn't feel like there's any brain damage."  
  
The doctor pulled me over a stool. "I'm Bling."  
  
"Jondy."  
  
"Can I ask you a question?"  
  
I nod, sitting on the stool.  
  
"How on earth did you manage to rescue Zack and Max, get shot in your stomach and your skull and make it back to Seattle complete with vital signs?" Bling's looking at me like I'm a medical miracle.  
  
"Don't forget telling Zack off and doing some serious damaged to Manticore's Director," Logan handed me some scrambled eggs and a mug of coffee.  
  
I wink. "Girls Kick Ass – says so on my t shirt."  
  
"Max has said that line far too many times. Not that you two look much alike," Bling said, studying my features.  
  
I can't argue with that one – Max has those gorgeous dark brown curls, while I have long, straight black hair like Tinga's. I have eyes much too big for any normal looking person in a very turquoise colour that turn navy blue when I'm happy. And Max has got deep brown eyes. I'm as tall as Logan is, while Max is about a head shorter than I am. She has a tan, I stay extremely pale. Our only matching feature is our lips. Not exactly sister material. I can't be mistaken as Asian like Tinga and Brin but I certainly don't look Anglo-Saxon with dark hair.  
  
I shrug. "Nobody's perfect."  
  
"You gave Syl an awful fright," Logan remarked, refilling my coffee.  
  
I gave him a confused look. "Tinga, Brin and Max were all dead to her. Then you race off and return with a great gaping hole in your skull in Zack's arms. When Max came back, she was frightened she'd traded one sister in for another."  
  
"I'm surprised," I said. Both men gave me funny looks. "When I was growing up, it was made out that I was glued to Max's side. I was for a few years, but I spent a lot of time with Krit and Zane and Zack and Justin. And after the escape…I haven't seen any of my sisters until now. I never was terribly close to Syl."  
  
"I think you almost dying, Max thought to be dead and Tinga's death made her cherish her siblings even more," Bling nodded. "Now, go and have a shower – clothes on the chest in your room and I'll give you the last of your medication."  
  
The shower was perfect. I washed my itchy hair and pulled it back into a bun. I pulled on some pale blue sweatpants and an Adidas tank top and some socks. Then Bling gave me another round of injections.  
  
Apparently, when Zack got me here, I was whisked off to a hospital with Bling and both bullets were fished out of my body. Then I was stitched up and sent here. My stomach has no scar, but my forehead does – white patch over my left eye.  
  
I ate tons that day, absolutely starving and having lost a third of my body weight.  
  
Logan just continued to feed me.  
  
We talked about life, while I was curled up on the lounge with a pillow and a blanket – I was surprised to find how weak and sleepy I was. Bling just said it was the Vivisys wearing off.  
  
Everyone else came home at seven – they looked terrible. Syl looked permanently close to tears.  
  
"We brought take out," Max called. I sat up on the couch and Syl shrieked and ran over to me.  
  
"I am so, so sorry for everything nasty I ever did to you," she said, bawling into my shoulder. "I almost lost all my sisters."  
  
Krit, who was looking pretty emotional, physically pulled Syl off me. Max dove at me.  
  
"Don't ever scare me like that again," she said. "One minute Renfro is yelling for some random soldier and the next second you take a bullet for me."  
  
I grin. "Tactics 102: Always avoid injuring more than needed; use fatally injured as shield."  
  
Everyone snorted with contempt.  
  
All of a sudden Zack's sitting beside me, looking as guilty as hell. I see Zane and Max yank everyone out of the room.  
  
"Wow. I never knew how far an X5 could push themselves until a few weeks ago," he looked at the floor. Apologizing is hard for a person like Zack.  
  
Bastard.  
  
"All for a good cause," I reply primly.  
  
"Renfro was planning on turning me into a Terminator Wannabe," Zack said. "You've seen that Pre Pulse movie?"  
  
I nod and try hard not to laugh at that visual.  
  
"You saved us Jondy. You cared enough about me – us - to come to our rescue when we most needed it. You didn't waste time thinking about your own safety or fears, you just did it. That's what I love about you – you may be reckless, but you care."  
  
Did Zack say love? Hell must be freezing over as we speak.  
  
"And while being reckless and caring and using your emotions makes you a shitty X5, it makes you one of the best people I know."  
  
Mmmm. Okay, I forgive you. My self-esteem is right back up there now.  
  
I smile at him, touching his cheek. "So, you'll let me back in then loop?"  
  
He nods.  
  
"You'll give Max the contact number?"  
  
He hesitates, but nods.  
  
"And you'll locate my motorcycle for me?"  
  
Again, he nods.  
  
"You still my girl?" he whispers, trying not to be heard by eaves dropping ears.  
  
"Always," I look at him.  
  
He leans forward and kisses me. I hear clapping and cheering from the juveniles I call Syl and Krit and Zane.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Life is good. Lydecker is on our side now – who knows for how long. Now I gotta help Maxie cure that virus between her and Logan – BB (whom I have been told is named Renfro) planted in her.  
  
Syl, Krit, Zane and I all share an apartment in Foggle Towers that Logan paid for. If you pay enough for an apartment, no one asks any questions.  
  
Zack's gone to tell Charlie what happened and find Jace and check on her. Then he's coming back and getting a job in Seattle. And Marcus is coming up to see us all. Maya is joining us at Christmas. Zack told Dem to stay in Europe where it's safe.  
  
Then, one day, all of us are going to go back to Manticore and take it down.  
  
Just to resolve those childhood issues ;)  
  
I can hold my breath forever  
  
I can pledge allegance in reverse  
  
You know kids can be so clever  
  
It can be a blessing or a curse  
  
When I'm with you i get lost inside your eyes  
  
I forget about the time and i realize  
  
I gotta run along and sing my song  
  
I'll kiss you and I'll miss you and be back before too long  
  
  
  
Copywrite (lol) Alexandra Bruderlin January 19th 2002 '…Hell Hath No Fury'. 


End file.
